AUTOBIOGRAPHY
Born
and raised in Vietnam, I spent the first 27 years of my life in Saigon, South
Vietnam, where I benefited from a trilingual education in Vietnamese, French and
English. I took Vietnamese from
elementary school through college and became a professional, published writer in
my senior year in college. I began
learning French at the age of nine, and English at the
age of ten. I have an extensive
background in Vietnamese, French, British and American literature, and majored
in 19th-century American literature in my Master’s and Doctorate
programs. After earning my B.A in
English (Summa Cum Laude), I was immediately hired to teach intensive English at
the Staff Development Center run by the American Embassy in Saigon,
Vietnam. Then I was awarded an
American Association of University Women (AAUW) fellowship for my M.A. degree at
the University of Chicago. After
completing my M.A. program within a year, I returned to Vietnam and became a
college professor at most of the colleges there, traveling on weekends to
different provinces to teach American literature. Sadly, I had to end that career abruptly
two years later, when I was evacuated from Vietnam in April 1975.
My
experience with Vietnamese-French-English translation started very early, when I
was still in high school. My
mother, who was a trilingual translator (Vietnamese-French-English) for the U.S.
Agency for International Development (USAID), always had more documents to
translate than she could complete in a work day. She would bring them home with
her, and I would translate them for her every evening. My father, who is accomplished in all
three languages, would edit my translations for me.
My translation career resumed immediately after I came to the U.S. in 1975. Soon after I arrived in Albuquerque, New Mexico, from a refugee camp, I was contacted by the New Mexico Indochina Refugee Resettlement Program and offered a job there as a translator/interpreter/sponsorship liaison/English teacher. My career as an interpreter started then, in 1975. Concurrently, I was also teaching English as a Second Language classes at Albuquerque Technical-Vocational Institute (TVI), a state-funded post-secondary technical school. I was awarded a second AAUW fellowship in 1976 to pursue a doctoral degree in American literature at the University of New Mexico. After completing all my course work and being advanced to Ph. D. candidacy, I was hired as a full-time English/reading/math instructor in the Department of Developmental Studies at TVI in 1979. While being a full-time instructor, I have always done translation and interpretation work and was licensed to operate my translation business in 1993. I took the Vietnamese interpretation test administered by Berlitz in 1998 (Exam # 30523) and was certified to interpret for Berlitz (located in Washington, D.C.) in federal Immigration Court.
In February 1998 I was contacted by the Council for Adult and Experiential Learning Transition Services (CAEL) to assist with Levi-Strauss employees' transition process. The process involved vocational retraining of former employees, English language training, and processing and managing of complex transition files under NAFTA's provisions. I was promptly hired as a part-time interpreter, translator, advisor, employment skills workshop presenter, and English instructor. I served in that program until it ended in October 1998. During that time I helped over 70 Vietnamese employees retrain for new employment. I was able to place many of them in other local companies and to assist others in starting their own business. At the request of CAEL's central office in Chicago, Illinois, I also traveled to El Paso, Texas, to assist--as a workshop presenter--with an orientation program there when the El Paso Levi-Strauss plant closed in 1998.
Because
of my full-time teaching position at Albuquerque TVI, I did not advertise my
translation services in the Yellow Pages of the telephone directory or
otherwise. My clients were able
to find me, usually through word of mouth and referrals from other
satisfied clients, and I have been able to build an extensive and varied
clientele: Metropolitan, District and Federal Courts; the New Mexico
Department of Labor; Workers’ Compensation Administration; private legal firms;
insurance companies; medical specialists; and other translation services--local,
national and international. My
listing on the New Mexico Translators and Interpreters Association (NMTIA)
Web
site has brought me clients from California, Oregon, Iowa and Canada.
Having
retired from my full-time teaching position in August 2002, I am dedicating more
time to my second career as a translator/interpreter. As always, I provide my clients with
prompt, punctual, professional, confidential, accurate and impeccable
translation and interpretation services. My clients have been highly satisfied
with my translation/interpretation services (cf. testimonials from clients). I am looking forward to providing the
same quality work to new clients--with dedication, diligence, personalized
and customized services, and attention to detail.
Please click
either the Microsoft Word or Adobe PDF icon
to download more information about the history of
Vietnamese Americans.
Please click here to read
an interview with a Vietnamese priest announcing the reprint of my novels.
(Please note that this interview is in the Vietnamese language)
